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XC-540 in storage for 4 years just brought it back out

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Ronda

New Member
If someone could tell me where to start. When we packed up the machine, we did so with a tech on the phone, used the cleaning cartridges to purge the ink. Secured all the parts and moved it to storage, then the movers moved it and put it in the building it is now in. Has had a climate controlled area the whole time. So I am setting it up and went through the whole "load ink for the first time, that didn't seem to work so I did the empty all the ink (head wash I think) then went through the loading of the ink for the first time. Did a test print and of course it has missing spots so I cleaned, medium clean and the heavy clean. The issue I am having is nothing is showing up for the black or the yellow. I am doing pretty good on the others but the two blocks in the center of the test print don't even have one square of either color showing up. I bought the printer new in 2007 and used it regularly until December of 2019. That is when we packed it up and moved. It has been stored wrapped in shrink wrap in a corner of a climate controlled area. I did find a service manual for the printer and I am fairly good at taking apart and putting back with a little instruction. (I also run commercial embroidery machines and do all maintenance and repair on them.)

I am looking for a little guidance of what I might want to look at first. Are there any special "tools" I might need to get? If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Ronda
 
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cornholio

New Member
Your chances aren't good for bringing the heads back to life.
A head wash with cleaning solution isn't for long time storage.
There is no official procedure from Roland for this scenario.
Printheads have some sort of storage fluid in them when new.
I never succeeded to fully revive a head after it was flushed with cleaning first and then with different storage solutions. (And stored for more than a couple of days)
 
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damonCA21

New Member
Ronda said:
That's what I was afraid of. Is there one pump for all of the ink? Since 4 are working. A head soak wouldn't hurt anything either, maybe a last ditch effort?
Click to expand...
You can try a head soak but it probably won't make any difference. Even if flushed for storage after 4 years it is unlikely to work correctly without a lot of work.
 
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Jim Hancock

Old School Technician
Make sure the lines from the black/yellow channels are clear and the pump for those channels is working. You can swap the lines from the cyan/magenta pump with the black/yellow pump at the pumps and run a cleaning cycle to see what happens. After that, depending upon the result, since you have nothing on the black/yellow channels, I would suggest you also check the fuses and output channels.
 
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Ronda

New Member
damonCA21 said:
You can try a head soak but it probably won't make any difference. Even if flushed for storage after 4 years it is unlikely to work correctly without a lot of work.
Click to expand...
Ideas on best place to get them? And an actual Roland number. I am searching the service manual to get the part number. I found a few on ebay and some from Mitraprint. They all are referencing DX4. I am finding pricing from $200 to $650. They are all saying Genuine Roland....but they might not be honest (LOLOLOLO)
 
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Ronda

New Member
Jim Hancock said:
Make sure the lines from the black/yellow channels are clear and the pump for those channels is working. You can swap the lines from the cyan/magenta pump with the black/yellow pump at the pumps and run a cleaning cycle to see what happens. After that, depending upon the result, since you have nothing on the black/yellow channels, I would suggest you also check the fuses and output channels.
Click to expand...
I will go do that today. At this point I have nothing to lose! Thank you
 
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damonCA21

New Member
Ronda said:
Ideas on best place to get them? And an actual Roland number. I am searching the service manual to get the part number. I found a few on ebay and some from Mitraprint. They all are referencing DX4. I am finding pricing from $200 to $650. They are all saying Genuine Roland....but they might not be honest (LOLOLOLO)
Click to expand...
If you are paying less than around $500 then they are either a scam site ( Mitrapring and pretty much all the indonesian ones who won't let you pay by card as they know they will get charged back when nothing turns up. ) or they are 'refurbished' ones if they are from china ( i.e. second hand or rejects that won't work ). Save yourself the hassle and buy from a decent seller local to you
 
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Ronda

New Member
damonCA21 said:
If you are paying less than around $500 then they are either a scam site ( Mitrapring and pretty much all the Indonesian ones who won't let you pay by card as they know they will get charged back when nothing turns up. ) or they are 'refurbished' ones if they are from china ( i.e. second hand or rejects that won't work ). Save yourself the hassle and buy from a decent seller local to you
Click to expand...
I will try the tube swap in the morning. If that doesn't do anything different then I will look for reputable. So far all my searches are leading me to china or Indonesia. Do you have any suggestions where in the US?
 
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Ronda

New Member
Jim Hancock said:
Make sure the lines from the black/yellow channels are clear and the pump for those channels is working. You can swap the lines from the cyan/magenta pump with the black/yellow pump at the pumps and run a cleaning cycle to see what happens. After that, depending upon the result, since you have nothing on the black/yellow channels, I would suggest you also check the fuses and output channels.
Click to expand...
My black and yellow lines are empty from the ink cartridge all the way to the heads. I swapped lines on the pump, ran one normal clean, still nothing. I will do a medium clean to see if I can get any ink to pull in. If I can't, what can I try next? I am not aware of any Roland techs in Colorado but I am open to that too. Thank you
 
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damonCA21

New Member
Ok the lines should not be empty. You need to find out why ink is not getting to the heads. Start at the cartridge dock, there is a thin needled that goes into the cartridge, this needs to be completely clear. Also check the nut and o-ring that connects to the dock. If this is leaking air it can stop ink being drawn through then check the ink hoses all the way from the dock to the damper and flush them out with cleaning solution.
If you get a small syringe that fits into the bottom of the damper you should be able to draw ink through without feeling too much resistance. These are the first things to check as if all that path is clear, the pump should draw ink into the dampers when you run a clean. Sometimes you will need to do a powerful clean a couple of times to get it to pull it all the way through
 
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Ronda

New Member
damonCA21 said:
Ok the lines should not be empty. You need to find out why ink is not getting to the heads. Start at the cartridge dock, there is a thin needled that goes into the cartridge, this needs to be completely clear. Also check the nut and o-ring that connects to the dock. If this is leaking air it can stop ink being drawn through then check the ink hoses all the way from the dock to the damper and flush them out with cleaning solution.
If you get a small syringe that fits into the bottom of the damper you should be able to draw ink through without feeling too much resistance. These are the first things to check as if all that path is clear, the pump should draw ink into the dampers when you run a clean. Sometimes you will need to do a powerful clean a couple of times to get it to pull it all the way through
Click to expand...
what all do I need to take apart to get to the cartridge dock?
 
J

Jim Hancock

Old School Technician
Realistically, after that long you should replace the caps, wipers and dampers. I would suspect you will probably find the caps to be the source of your issue, with the rubber edges having gotten hard and not sealing well. Also, the O-rings in the bottom of the dampers have probably dried out and aren't sealing well. On the DX4 head Rolands, a single air leak can keep an entire group from pulling ink.

If you want to keep testing before replacing parts, I suggest the following. A single normal clean is not enough to pull ink through the lines, it's really only for clearing the print head. First, open the caps and put a syringe on the black/cyan cap line and see if you can pull freely. If so, I would do no more than 2 power cleans on the A group with the black/yellow (B group) cap line hooked to the cyan/magenta pump (A group). This way, you are testing the system for air leaks with a known good pump. If you still have nothing, then, as Damon suggested, try to pull ink through each of the dampers on the black and yellow heads. The syringe should fit snuggly in the bottom of the damper. If you are successful with this, do a single medium clean on the B group with the cap lines back in their original positions. If you still don't pull ink through the head, it's likely the cap, as the Roland pancake pumps rarely go bad. If nothing has changed after this, then replace the suggested parts, which should be done when refurbishing a printer like you are doing. If that doesn't do it, I would go toward the cartridge dock.
 
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Ronda

New Member
Jim Hancock said:
Realistically, after that long you should replace the caps, wipers and dampers. I would suspect you will probably find the caps to be the source of your issue, with the rubber edges having gotten hard and not sealing well. Also, the O-rings in the bottom of the dampers have probably dried out and aren't sealing well. On the DX4 head Rolands, a single air leak can keep an entire group from pulling ink.

If you want to keep testing before replacing parts, I suggest the following. A single normal clean is not enough to pull ink through the lines, it's really only for clearing the print head. First, open the caps and put a syringe on the black/cyan cap line and see if you can pull freely. If so, I would do no more than 2 power cleans on the A group with the black/yellow (B group) cap line hooked to the cyan/magenta pump (A group). This way, you are testing the system for air leaks with a known good pump. If you still have nothing, then, as Damon suggested, try to pull ink through each of the dampers on the black and yellow heads. The syringe should fit snuggly in the bottom of the damper. If you are successful with this, do a single medium clean on the B group with the cap lines back in their original positions. If you still don't pull ink through the head, it's likely the cap, as the Roland pancake pumps rarely go bad. If nothing has changed after this, then replace the suggested parts, which should be done when refurbishing a printer like you are doing. If that doesn't do it, I would go toward the cartridge dock.
Click to expand...
I have parts coming to do all that. I should have them next week, I think. I will stop messing with it until I get all the stuff you mentioned. I may need help again when I am doing that.
Thank you both for your help! So much appreciation. I have been a member here since 2007 when I bought this printer and had assistance then too! Thank you again
 
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